Love Story
by redhandedwickedlittlemachine
Summary: One-a-day standalone oneshots written by yours truly. Ezria/Spardy-centric. Rating is subject to change, but set at T for potential language issues. Includes Ezria babies and plenty of fluff!
1. The First And The Last Time

A/N: So anyone who has read my fics in the recent past (see: the past three years) knows that I don't post (or even write) nearly as much as I used to. I have tried to remedy this many different times and ways, but at this point, I've surrendered to the fact that it's just not something that I'm supposed to be 100 percent tunnel-visioned into. **However** , I wanted to get back into _some_ sort of swing of things, and with regular access to Wi-Fi now, I want to set a goal, and that's this:

A fic each day that is at least (but not necessarily more, if I can't manage it) 500 words. Most of these will probably be inspired by songs, just for fair warning. Either way, I hope these find you well and that you enjoy them.

Love Story

The First And The Last Time

Aria stared wearily at the bed from the doorway, unable to pull her thoughts from the memory of way too many memories in that spot. She and Ezra had created so many moments between those sheets, full of every range of emotion. They'd laughed while watching rom-coms and sent popcorn flying during old-school horror films. They had snuggled in the ice cold heat and sent the blankets flying onto the floor in the summer. They'd calmed and consoled one another after getting phone calls of lost loved ones-both their fathers, in the expanse of a year. They'd also created their kids in that bed.

"Momma?"

Aria lifted her left hand and rubbed at her eyes while Harper pulled at her hand. She glanced down at the three year-old and smiled before leaning down and picking her up. Harper snuggled into her mother, and Aria smiled, hugging her daughter back tightly.

"Momma, I'm hungry," Harper murmured into her ear. Aria chuckled, but nodded.

"Alright, baby," she replied. "We'll get some food in just a bit."

Harper snuggled closer to her, and Aria sighed. They really hadn't had any cuddle fests lately. Between being hugely pregnant with Declan, and then giving birth early and having her attention split twenty different ways from her newborn son, to the doctors, and then the impending move, Harper had been somewhat neglected by her in recent days.

As she stepped into the kitchen, Ezra snapped off a slice of boxing tape onto a medium-sized box, sealing it. He glanced over at her with the same weary expression she recognized from the mirror, and she smiled at him.

"This is the last of it," he told her as he settled the boxing tape roller on the counter. "Hardy just went down to start the truck."

Aria nodded, walking over to him. Ezra tilted his head down and kissed her. Aria leaned into him ever-so-briefly, feeling his warmth ebb against her. When she leaned back, she looked around. The floor was completely cleared, having been swept earlier after the last bit of furniture had been moved out. The walls were freshly painted white, waiting for the next person to grace the space.

"Ready?" Ezra asked her gently.

Aria looked up at him, nervous to answer. They were leaving so much behind, and it didn't feel right, even if it _was_ what was meant for them to do next.

"The bed?" She asked.

"Sabrina's going to let the guys up here to get it out," Ezra told her. "I'm not sure what they're doing with it yet, but it's pretty fried so I hope they junk it."

Aria gulped, only because she knew he probably wasn't thinking of it in the same context as she was.

"Where's your head at," Ezra asked as he brushed his thumb against her cheek. She looked up at him again, and breathed a deep breath, trying to keep composed.

"It's just a lot to leave," she spoke softly.

Ezra nodded, looped his arm around her and pulled her in close as he pressed his lips to her forehead.

"We'll come back to visit," he told her. "All the time. Hanna already promised you that you could do all the shopping you wanted at the warehouse for free; and I promise you'll love New York. As it is, I'm sure you and Spencer will be running all over creation with the kids until summer ends."

A small laugh escaped Aria, only because she and Spencer **had** already made plans upon plans upon plans to go out and see every museum in New York. Plus, they had already been working on plans for an end-of-summer vacation with the boys to Washington DC so they could see all the sights there as well.

"Alright," she finally said after a moment. She bounced Harper a few times to get her moving, and then gently lowered her to her feet on the floor before taking her hand. "Last chance," Aria stated. "Are you absolutely positive about my mom?"

Ezra nodded, passing her Declan in his carrier. Aria glanced at her newborn son as she let Ezra place the carrier on her forearm, as the padded wrap on the handle was too thick for her to hold with one hand. Declan was fast asleep.

"There's plenty of room in the loft for all of us," Ezra stated, and though he didn't say it out loud, neither of them was cool with the idea of Ella staying in Rosewood alone. Mike had moved to Los Angeles with no intention of returning, and Ella was still grieving losing Byron just as much as Aria was.

A knock wrapped at the door, and they both glanced up to see Spencer.

"You guys ready," she asked. "Hardy's already in the cafe trying to take every bit of food Sabrina cooked this morning."

"Momma," Harper drawled.

Aria nodded, glancing down at Harper and then up at Spencer. "Yeah. Tell Hardy he better give my daughter some of those mini pies." 

"Time to go," Harper asked excitedly.

Aria chuckled, glancing down at her once more. "Yes, baby. Time to go. Now go get your uncle and make him share those pies."


	2. Leave It To The Breeze

_Leave It To The Breeze_

The day had been long by the time Aria strolled into the upstairs loft apartment above The Brew. She'd started the day helping out in the cafe before settling down as a customer to get some writing done. She and Ezra were about halfway through the screenplay for their now-New York Times bestselling book, but she'd been slacking lately.

It hadn't been intended. They had been busy in recent weeks, doing press for the third book they'd written together. It was their first book they'd officially worked on from start to finish. After they had finished the book tour for their first book, they'd been put hard to work on the prequel that had been discussed, and then in the middle of it all, they had gotten married and gone on their honeymoon.

After the second book, they decided to take a few months off to decompress from all that had gone on in the previous year, and just enjoy being married. Ezra had applied for a job at Penn State, and then they'd considered moving out of Rosewood, but quickly changed their minds when Ella had been diagnosed with breast cancer. As it was, Philadelphia was only twenty minutes outside of Rosewood, so Ezra was fine with making the commute.

Following Ella's diagnosis, Aria had told Jillian that she needed an extended hiatus, and though she could tell her boss was less than thrilled, she allowed it.

Some six months passed, during which Aria tried to write, but most of what she came up with usually ended up in her trash, whether it was digital or physical. Ezra didn't pressure her either, and instead left her to do what she felt she needed to.

In the meantime, she fulfilled her creative need by taking pictures. She signed up for a class at Hollis, which then led to two more, and somehow she ended up finding herself working to finish her degree in photography. Granted, Hollis wasn't Savannah by any stretch of the imagination, but it got her the credentials she was seeking, and allowed her to shoot photos without people asking if she actually knew what she was doing.

The end of that year did bring good news, thankfully. After nearly a year of treatment, Ella was declared cancer-free. The Montgomery family commemorated the diagnosis with a party, and after some ten and a half months, Aria felt like she could breathe again.

She didn't return to writing straight away, however. While she often found herself peaking over Ezra's shoulder at whatever he was working at on any given occasion, the ideas she was able to come up with hardly ever fathomed themselves into actual sentences on the screen.

The holidays came and went, and then Spencer called her on an early morning in February in a panic. Aria had rushed over to her best friends apartment, where Alison and Emily were already waiting-Hanna had been gone on a business trip. When she arrived, Spencer explained that she was fairly sure she was pregnant, but was afraid of taking the test by herself.

The girls had all been shocked. Since Toby's death nearly two years before, Spencer really hadn't dated anyone, let alone mentioned a single guy's name. Still, the girls waited with her after she'd peed on a stick, and when it came up positive, Aria agreed to stay with her while Alison and Emily went out for four pints of ice cream.

It wasn't until they had left that Spencer threw the truth on Aria-she'd been sleeping with Ezra's best friend, Hardy, since Aria and Ezra's wedding. Still, it had been casual, and she feared what Hardy's reaction would be when he found out, because while Hardy had tamed his partying ways, he hardly came across as the kind of guy who wanted to settle down with kids.

As it turned out, after inhaling several pints of coffee flavored ice cream, Spencer found her will and texted Hardy nervously, telling him they needed to talk. Aria had stayed with her until Hardy showed up, and then left with the plan that Spencer would call her and tell her what happened. She did, some two hours later, and Aria and Ezra were both surprised to hear that Hardy had been overjoyed, and had all but proposed after Spencer told him.

That had been nearly eight weeks before. In the time since, they'd finally managed to start writing again, which ended up being insanely rushed by Jillian when she found out, since they wanted to have a release ready in time of the fourth anniversary of Ezra and Aria's first book. Not three days after they'd finished, they received the order for the screenplay. The book had been optioned ages ago, but like most book-turned-movies, it had bounced around between different production companies for a while before landing with Summit, who had finally just asked Aria and Ezra to pen the screenplay. Aria had felt lucky when she found her inspiration coming back bit by bit, and she largely blamed it on the fact that she was excited to become an aunt in just a few months.

So of course, she was heartbroken when Spencer had called her that afternoon sobbing.

It had taken her some twenty minutes to calm her best friend enough to understand what Spencer was trying to tell her-that she'd had a miscarriage. Aria had then spent half an hour in the stairwell up to her and Ezra's apartment, crying with Spencer, while repeatedly stating she was on her way. When she finally made it over to Spencer's place, she'd spent another two hours crying with her, hugging her and holding her, trying to convince both Spencer and herself that everything would be okay.

She ended up staying until Hardy arrived home, and then only left when she was sure both he and Spencer would be alright. As she drove home in the pouring rain, she still felt her heart breaking for Spencer and Hardy. She couldn't imagine going through what they were, suffering such a deep loss before they'd even gotten a chance to enjoy it completely.

Of course, it in the midst of all that thinking that she realized, her period was late, which was how she found herself arriving back at her apartment, soaked from the rain, sitting in her bathroom staring down at a tiny white stick, waiting for it to show one way or the other whether or not she was pregnant.

A door slammed outside the bathroom, and Aria perked up nervously. She hadn't even thought to put dinner on, or even what to eat. The day had been so hectic, she'd hardly considered food since she'd eaten a raspberry scone with her cappuccino that morning.

" _Aria?"_

She inhaled a sharp breath, glancing down at the test between her fingers and then up at the door, and then back again. As she did it the third time, the answer popped up on the screen and her heart leaped.

" _Aria, hon, where are you? Hardy called-"_

She stood and opened the bathroom door, walked towards the kitchen. When she stepped around the corner to where Ezra could see her, he was standing at the counter with two cups of coffee from downstairs.

"Hey," he greeted softly. "Are you alright? Hardy said you were with Spencer when he got home."

Aria nodded, breathing another deep breath as her thoughts moved to her best friend once more. "Yeah. It was hard to see her that way." She walked into the kitchen, though she left a few feet between them.

Ezra nodded, stepping towards her. He wrapped his arm loosely around her torso and kissed her forehead before offering her a cup of coffee, which she took.

"Hardy was choked up when he called," Ezra explained. "He said Spencer had just finally fallen asleep."

Aria gulped, trying not to cry once more. When Ezra looked up at her, she tried to force a smile, which further pushed the tears into her eyes, and she let out something in between a laugh and a sob. Ezra took the coffee from her hand and hugged her once more, rubbing her back.

"It's okay," he told her gently.

Aria shook her head, sobbing silently into his shirt, trying to get the emotion out so she could speak. It took several long breaths before she was able to lean back and look up at him.

"I just feel so guilty."

Ezra brushed her hair out of her eyes, and furrowed his brow. "Why? You didn't do anything."

Aria finally lifted her other hand, showing him the stick. Ezra's eyes widened ever-so-slightly.

"Is this…I mean, are we…?" He asked.

Aria nodded as her chin began to tremble again. Ezra grasped her hand over the positive test and kissed the top of her head as he gently rocked her back and forth.

"It will be okay," Ezra murmured into her ear. "We'll give Spencer and Hardy some time before we tell them; and I am absolutely positive she will be so happy for you."

"I just don't understand why I had to find out today," Aria said, when she was able to find her voice, though it shook with the threat of more tears. "Why not yesterday? Or a week from now?"

Ezra shrugged his shoulders, leaned down and kissed her quickly. "I don't know, baby."

Aria wrapped her arms around him, and Ezra hugged her tighter, allowing the release of endorphins to calm her. After a long minute, she loosened her grip around him, and he looked down at her once more.

"Better?" He asked.

Aria nodded. Ezra kissed her once more. Though it was quick again, this time she kissed him back.

"So, all the bad stuff aside today," Ezra asked a few seconds later. "Are you happy?"

Aria glanced down at the test still grasped in her hand, considered once more what it all meant, in the face of all that had happened in the recent past. She glanced back up at Ezra and smiled, her face still wet with tears.

"Absolutely."


	3. Stone Cold

**A/N:** While most of these will probably be stand-alone oneshots, today's was a follow-up to yesterday's (Leave It To The Breeze), as it was requested.

 _Stone Cold_

Aria stared down at her phone nervously, trying to find the words to piece together into a sentence. It had been more than a week since she'd taken her home pregnancy test, and as she sat waiting in her doctors office for the confirmation via blood test, all she could think about Spencer.

She honestly felt like complete shit. When the doctor had asked her how far along she was, Aria had to admit that she couldn't be entirely sure. Her life had been so stressful in the past year and a half that her cycle really hadn't been regular since shortly after she and Ezra had gotten married. Between writing their books, the screenplay, and Ella's illness, her weight had fluctuated between dangerously thin and pushing the high end of healthy weight for her height and age. Granted, she'd gotten it more in control in the past few months by avoiding emotional eating and going out with her friends more often instead of hiding at home, but the stress she'd felt had still been throwing off her cycle.

Someone rapped on the door several times before opening it a crack, and her physician popped her head around the door before entering entirely.

"I'm pleased to inform you that the blood test came back positive as well," her doctor told her. She glanced down at Aria's file on her clipboard. "Now, you had said your last cycle was-"

"Like three and a half months ago,"Aria replied.

Her doctor nodded, and then stared at her notes for a moment. "Going based off of what shows here, I'm inclined to guess that you're between nine and twelve weeks, but I want to see if we can't get you in for a sonogram before you go, so we can pin that down a bit more,"she explained. "Are you alright waiting for a while?"

Aria nodded, and her nurse smiled, leaning over and patting her leg. "Alright. Let me go arrange that, and I'll be back in a bit."

Aria nodded again, and then waited until her doctor had left before she turned her attention back to her phone. She opened her text messages and tapped on Ezra's name.

It was only going on 1 PM, so he was still teaching, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't want to miss out on this.

She quickly tapped out a message.

 **Test came back positive. She wants to**

 **do a sonogram. Want to come?**

She sent the text along and then bounced nervously in her seat. She wasn't worried about Ezra showing up on time-she knew he would want to come, and the high school was only about three blocks from the clinic, so he'd likely show up long before they even came back to get her.

As she closed the message, she looked back at her text message threads, stared at Spencer's name once more. She knew she needed to tell her, but she didn't know how.

.,.

Some twenty five minutes later, Ezra had arrived, and the Aria's doctor finally came back to usher them down to the sonography room. Once Aria had settled on the exam chair, her doctor poured the cool conduction gel onto her abdomen, and then picked up the doppler and moved it around a bit as they all stared at the screen.

It didn't take long-hardly ten seconds-before she managed to find a heartbeat. A sob escaped Aria before she even really knew why she was reacting, and she squeezed her eyes shut as tears flooded down the sides of her face.

"It's an emotional moment, I know," her doctor commented, and Aria could do was nod, even though her tears were not for herself.

Ezra ran his right hand up and down Aria's forearm for a few moments, squeezing her fingers to get her to open her eyes. She looked up at him.

'You okay?' He mouthed to her. She inhaled a deep breath and the nodded.

Aria finally looked over at the screen, and could something that barely- _hardly,_ but then kind-of maybe-looked like a very tiny human. She and Ezra watched and waited as her doctor took measurements, before the physician finally spoke.

"Alright, you're measuring right around eleven weeks," she stated.

Another sob escaped Aria and she threw her hand over her mouth, hating herself all at once. She shook her head back and forth, and for the first time, it became clear to her physician that something was wrong.

"Is this not the news we were hoping for," she asked.

Ezra shook his head. "It is," he explained. "It's just, our best friends just miscarried last week, just a few days before the first trimester would've ended." He looked down at Aria struggling to hold his own composure as he watched her cry silently. "We're feeling some guilt on our end."

Aria's physician frowned, but she nodded.

"That can be a rough predicament,"she commented. She gently wiped the gel off Aria's stomach and with one hand, clicked a few buttons on her computer with the other before a stream of photos began to print from the machine.

"Just remember that you should also celebrate," she reminded them. "Everything happens in the right time."

.,.

It was two weeks before Aria finally mustered up the courage to call Spencer and ask her if she and Hardy wanted to come for dinner. As it was, she'd already shared her news with Alison and Emily, as well as Hanna. They'd each had warm regards for she and Ezra, but also mentioned treading gently with Spencer. Aria knew all too well why they said as much, too, as Spencer was still grieving her loss. However, with each passing day, Aria was straddling a line between feeling more and more love for the life growing inside of her, and feeling a self-hatred so strong that she didn't know what to do with herself, because she felt like she'd betrayed her best friend.

The dinner passed easily without a problem, but as she found herself sitting in her seat at the end of the meal, she and Ezra still hadn't said anything. They'd agreed that she would be the one to bring up the subject, but she hadn't been able to find the ability to say the words out loud.

As Ezra moved the plates off the table, Hardy stood as well.

"Did you guys want some wine," Ezra asked. He glanced at Aria. "Juice?"

"None for me," Spencer said as she looked up at Hardy. "I'll drive."

"I'll take some juice," Aria replied. "Spence?"

"Sure," Spencer replied.

"I'll have a beer if you've got one," Hardy told Ezra. Ezra nodded, and Hardy followed Ezra into the kitchen. After two long minutes, both men returned to the table, each carrying a beer in one hand, and a wine glass filled with grape juice in the other.

Ezra glanced nervously at Aria as she took a sip from her wine glass, and wondered if she was going to speak. After a few seconds, he took a large swig of his beer, and then settled it on the table.

"S-so the reason we asked you guys to come tonight-"

"Ezra," Aria chided gently. "Let me."

Spencer and Hardy both looked at her. "What is it?"

Aria gulped and then cleared her throat nervously. "We, um… we asked you guys over because we have to tell you something," she stated.

"Okay?"

Aria and Ezra shared a nervous glance.

"What's the big secret," Hardy asked seriously. "Fess up."

Aria took a nervous gulp of her juice and then cleared her throat before speaking rushedly. "We're pregnant."

Hardy stared at them, wide-eyed and emotionless while Spencer's expression sank into despair. Just the sight of her reaction made Aria feel like complete and utter crap all over again.

"Are you serious?" Spencer's voice was so strained that it was like being punched in the stomach. "After all that's just happened?"

Hardy turned towards her, reached out to grab her arm, but she lurched away from his grasp, standing up. "Babe-"

"No," she growled, looking over at him. "We just-..." She couldn't find the strength to say the words as her chin began to tremble and tears flooded her eyes. "We just _lost_ our baby."

"I swear, if I had known this would happen-" Aria tried to speak, but Spencer cut her off.

"Don't feed me your line of crap right now," Spencer growled at her. After a long moment, she shook her head quickly, grabbing for her purse on the floor. "I can't do this."

"Spencer-, Spencer, please-"

Before Hardy could actually form a sentence to get out of his mouth, she had already rushed to the door and walked out. Aria rushed around the side of the table to head after her, but Hardy grabbed her arm as she passed him. Aria looked back at him.

"I have to-"

Hardy shook his head. "Aria," he begged, his voice soft with distraught. "She needs time."

Aria frowned at him, tears filling her own eyes. "I wasn't trying to hurt her, I swear. I didn't know."

Hardy nodded, though his expression was unchanging. After a long moment of staring at one another, Aria stepped forward and hugged him. He hugged her back, tentatively at first, and then tighter. It dawned on her immediately as she felt wetness on her shoulder that this was likely the first time he'd felt he could emote freely over everything that had happened lately.

Ezra crossed the room quietly and gently placed his hand on Hardy's shoulder, squeezed it sympathetically as he and Aria shared a knowing glance.

.,.

 _2 Months Later_

Aria yawned as she brushed her fingers through her hair while her other hand rested upon her rounded stomach. Ezra was out of town meeting with producers about the actors who were being considered for their movie. They were officially in pre-production and planning to shoot in Pennsylvania so Aria and Ezra would be able to be on-set fairly regularly, but she was trying to avoid travelling until she absolutely had to.

As it was, he had been gone for two days and was set to be gone for another three, most-likely, and while he was gone, she was _supposed_ to be working on one of her short stories, as she had convinced Jillian that her short stories were worthy of being published...but she was having a case of writers block that wasn't allowing her to do so. Instead, she found herself staring at Facebook, reading her friends' posts.

She stared longingly at Spencer's most recent post, unable to not feel defeated. Hardy had proposed the nigth before Ezra left-he'd asked Ezra to help him set up for it at home-and Spencer had finally posted the announcement a few hours ago. Aria couldn't help but feel rejected too, because she **knew** that the other three girls had taken Spencer out to lunch that afternoon to celebrate. But Spencer hadn't spoken to her since the night she walked out on their dinner. It broke her heart; she'd always felt that of all the girls, she and Spencer were the most alike, and she was the one Aria was closest with, but the taller girl had shut her out completely, and Aria had given up when she couldn't handle the constant rejection anymore.

She clicked on her Spotify app and opened the Country playlist, clicking through the first few songs when she didn't like them, before she finally stopped. When the chorus hit, she had to stop trying to proofread her current work to hear the words, and after it had finished, she stopped and restarted the song, listening to it play. Tears filled her eyes as she realized it was saying exactly what she felt.

She clicked back on Facebook and went straight up to the 'What's on your mind?' box, and began to type.

" _I can honestly understand why it's over  
I can go through the motions of walking away  
I can give you the key and take my things back  
I can find plenty things to fill my days_

 _But I don't know how not to think about you  
When it's late at night and crying  
And I know that I ought to be the one who is strong and just moves on  
But I probably turn down your road, knock-knock on your door  
Fall back in your arms, wake up in the morning  
Hating myself for the way that I can't help the way I still want you  
I just don't know how not to, how not to, how not to…" _

She moved her index finger over her trackpad until the pointer hovered over the blue Post button, and she hesitated. It was honest, and blatant, and it said things in ways that she hadn't been able to piece together before.

After a long moment, she pressed the button and then set her computer aside. The baby shifted in her stomach and suddenly gave a swift kick to her bladder, and she groaned.

"Alright, alright," she commented as she rubbed her stomach. "I'll go empty your pillow. Or soccer ball. Or whatever it is tonight."

She moved out of bed and headed to the bathroom, flipping lights on in the apartment as she went. She and Ezra were looking at getting a house a few blocks away, so they were already packing up in preparation.

As she stepped into the bathroom, she glanced up at herself in the mirror and rubbed her hands over her face. She was swollen from head to toe after working the past few days, both writing and shooting pictures for several families. She'd finally finished up her photography degree a few weeks before, but she was currently still printing pictures from home in their office slash living room.

She brushed her hair up into a messy bun and then moved to the toilet and did her business. She didn't rush to get up after she was finished though, unable to find the energy to push herself back up. Her barely-the-length-of-a-carrot baby had taken over the expanse of her torso some weeks earlier, and now getting up and down was a lot harder than she thought it was going to be.

She waited until her legs began to hurt, and then turned and gripped the edge of the counter of the sink before pulling herself up and moving to the sink.

She finally headed back to the bedroom some ten minutes later when she'd washed her hands and face, and then brushed her teeth. As she crawled back into bed, she closed her computer and then settled it on the nightstand before picking up her phone. As she did, it began to ring. She answered it quickly and lifted it to her ear, expecting it to be Ezra.

"Hey babe, you just get back to the hotel?"

The line was quiet for a few moments.

"Ezra?"

" _Aria, it's me."_ Spencer's voice was so soft, it surprised her. All at once, her heart swelled and dropped, feeling panic and hope in the same breath.

"H-hi."

" _Hi,"_ Spencer replied, her vocie still soft. " _I, um...I've been trying to figure out how to call for a while now."_

"I'd figured you hated me," Aria replied nervously, softly.

" _No,"_ Spencer insisted. " _Give me-...one second."_ She went quiet and there was a bit of rustling, and then silence before she came back a full minute later. " _Sorry. Hardy is passed out and I didn't want to wake him._

" _I didn't hate you then, and I don't hate you now,"_ Spencer explained. " _I just didn't know how to not feel defeated, and that made me angry at you, even though it had nothing to do with you."_ She paused for a moment, and then Aria heard her whimper. " _I wanted to call you the other night, after Hardy proposed, but I knew I'd hurt you, and I didn't know if you'd want to hear from me."_

Aria gulped, failing miserably at trying to keep her emotions reined in. She selfishly blamed her unborn child.

" _I felt like crap when we went to lunch today and the girls didn't invite you,"_ Spencer continued. " _And then when I saw your post….Fuck, I'm just so sorry."_

Aria inhaled a deep breath, swallowing past the knot in her throat. "I just wished you'd called sooner."

" _Me too,"_ Spencer replied. She was quiet for a moment, and then sighed. " _Shit, man. I'm not gonna be able to sleep now. Do you want company? Ezra's gone for a few days, right?"_

"Yeah," Aria said. "Ye-yeah, if you want to. Hardy'll be okay with you gone?"

" _Please, he sleeps like a log. I'll let him know I'm leaving and I'll be there in five minutes, okay?"_

"Okay," Aria replied. "See you in a bit."

" _Be there soon."_


	4. First And Ten

**A/N:** To those asking for a follow-up to Stone Cold, I promise I'm heavily considering it, but right now it requires more brainpower than I have, so tonight you get something else :). That said, this one come way out of left field with an idea I've had for about a year.

 _First And Ten_

Aria stared down at the notes on her sheet of paper as she stood on the edge of the field, watching as a myriad of men rushed up and down the practice field, throwing the ball back and forth. She was there to interview the first string quarterback, who, after a wrist at the end of the season two years earlier, had developed a drug addiction which ultimately sidelined him halfway through the last season. He'd been mum in the press about his personal life ever since, and now with the season starting, the local paper was clamoring for anything they could get out of him.

She wished she were interested in what she was doing. Hell, she wished she cared even a little bit about being there at all-even if she could get herself interested at staring at the guys-but her brain would not give into the fact that she had never really cared for sports of any kind. Sure, she enjoyed watching parts of the olympics-swimming, gymnastics, rafting-but that didn't mean she actually cared to watch players compete regularly. It bored her to no end.

She hadn't intended on ever being a sports writer to begin with. Her current position had come along after she'd started out doing grunt work on the press room floor. One of those random stories she'd been required to write, was a small expose about a guy who had come to the team late in the year the previous season when one of the players had gone out with an ankle injury. So she'd buckled down and did her job, asking all the important questions and making sure she did what she needed to, to turn in the best story. She couldn't know at the time that the man the team would bring in would give them an actual shot at the playoffs while down their first-string quarterback and half a dozen other high-rated players due to injuries earned in the latter half of the season. Further more, she never could've known that when that player **did** find himself front and center at the end of the year, every one would be looking to her front, below-the-fold, quarter-page article about the new guy taking the Philadelphia Eagles by storm.

Whether she wanted to write in Sports after that wasn't an option. She spent the better half of the summer being sent out for every baseball game, although that wasn't so bad. She could usually land two or three extra tickets, and she would get her best friend, Spencer, to bring her dad along, and Aria would bring her own father, so they were able to make a day of it. She'd never even begin to guess that Spencer would hit it off with a pitcher when she got to meet him one day after a post-game interview with Aria, and in some ways that made it all even worse, because now it was virtually impossible to escape sporting events.

A bag fell beside her foot and she shook out of her reverie, glancing up as a tall, blonde-haired man stood next to her. He smirked as he reached down and grabbed one of the team gatorade bottles and squirted the energizing liquid into his mouth. After he'd swallowed it, he spoke.

"Clayton," he greeted as he offered her his hand. She shifted her notepad under her arm and reached out to shake his hand, gaping when his large hand encased her small fingers entirely.

"Aria Montgomery," she replied.

"Ahh," he nodded with a knowing smile. "So you must be here for Fitz."

Aria nodded, looking back towards the practice field. It had emptied up fairly quickly, and most of the guys were heading into the field house. Clayton leaned down and picked up his bag, and then turned and pointed across the practice field towards the coaches.

"He's right there; he'll probably be over soon."

Aria looked up at him and nodded, thank him.

"Not a problem," he stated, patting her shoulder as he walked away. As she watched him head towards the field house, she couldn't help but still be shocked by how small she felt standing next to him.

Some ten minutes later, Ezra Fitz-the man she was supposed to be interviewing-finally wandered over, along with several other men. The oldest of them-a man dressed in a team t-shirt and khaki shorts, had introduced himself when she had arrived, as the manager of the team. He smiled at her as he turned his attention to the situation at hand.

"Ezra, I'd like you to meet Aria Montgomery," the manager said. "I have a feeling you two will be working together a lot from now on." 

Aria extended her hand to Ezra, and he stared at her skeptically for a moment, then reached out and shook her hand.

"You wrote the article about Wheeler, didn't you?" He asked. Aria nodded.

The team manager patted Ezra's shoulder. "Well, I think Tom and I will leave you two to talk."

When the manager had walked away along with the coach, Ezra lifted his sunglasses off his face and wiped his forehead.

"Do you mind if I shower?" He asked. "We can get some food after, my treat. I'm starving."

Aria nodded. "Sure. I have some calls to make, so I'll meet you in the parking lot."

Ezra nodded, smiled. "Sounds good."

.,.

Thirty-five minutes later, she found herself back home in Rosewood, though she was far out on the edge of town. She hadn't known it, but apparently star quarterback Ezra Fitz had bought himself a home in the tiny town so he could get away from all the noise in Philadelphia. Aria didn't blame him; while she didn't mind working for the paper, or the twenty minute commute it required each day, she liked being able to come home at night and just be in the quiet.

Ezra walked out of his house onto the back patio and handed Aria a bottle of water before opening the bag of food he was holding. He passed her the salad she'd ordered, along with her entree.

"You like it out here," Aria asked when he'd sat down across from her. Ezra looked around the expansive land around them, breathed a deep breath, and then nodded as he looked back at her.

"Yeah, I do," he replied. "I spent most of my life growing up in Manhattan and Queens, so it's nice to be away from all the hustle and bustle." 

Aria nodded. "I know what you mean. I've gotten so sick of the city after this year."

"You spend a lot of time there?" Ezra asked.

Aria shrugged, picking at her salad with her fork. "I didn't in the past, but, you know Hardy Daniels, right? I mean I've read you two have done charity work together."

Ezra nodded, taking a large bite of of his burger he'd ordered. "Yeah. We're looking into opening a bookstore, actually."

Aria raised her eyebrows. "Seriously? That's awesome."

"Yeah, but that's off the record," Ezra told her. "Anyway, you were saying?" 

"Of course," she replied to his first statement. "Anyhow, I was doing the write-ups for most of the games this season, and he met my best friend after a post-game interview and asked her out. They're dating now, and she kept dragging me out the first few months, trying to get me to meet someone on his team."

Ezra raised his eyebrows. "Oh wow. Wait, so Spencer Hastings is your best friend?"

Aria nodded. "I didn't realize you'd met her." 

Ezra chuckled and cleared his throat, looking down at his food. "Wow."

Aria narrowed her eyes at him, confused. "What? What's funny."

Ezra cleared his throat, dug into his pocket and pulled his phone out. He tapped it a few times and then passed the phone across to her. The name at the top of the message thread showed Hardy's name, but it was more than clear that Spencer was the one who had been sending the messages she was looking at.

 **Seriously, you gotta ask her out.  
You guys will love eachother.  
-S**

 **I'm really not into calling random people**

 **up when we don't know each other.  
-E**

 **Just take her number and think about it.**

 **You won't regret it. And we can double!**

 **-S**

Aria gaped at the sight of her phone number, and it was all she could do not to growl. It suddenly became way too obvious why Spencer had stopped trying to drag her out on double dates with herself and Hardy. She'd clearly been trying to push Ezra Fitz to ask her out.

One thing was for sure in that moment: she was going to kill Spencer Hastings.

.,.

 _Two Weeks Later_

Aria growled as she pounded her fists on her desk, staring up at her computer. Her hatred of sports was growing by the hour, regardless of the fact that she and Ezra Fitz had become good friends over the past few days, getting to know one another.

She had turned in her article a week days earlier, and it was received well by her editors, as well as Ezra, whom she'd allowed to sign off on it. The actual article had come out the day after that, and less than twelve hours later, it was picked up nationally. The following morning, two national papers had picked up her article to run nationally, and while that had been amazing, it had created the worst shitstorm she'd never asked for.

Two days after the article went out, it became viral on the internet with sports fans-namely football fans, but still-and a day after that, she'd been called into the Editor-in-Chief's office for a meeting. Aria had been hoping that it would be for the position she'd so heavily coveted-a transfer to covering Arts and Leisure-but instead she'd been told that HarperCollins was marketing a book on Ezra's life, but more namely his Superbowl win with an injured wrist, his subsequent drug addiction due to the injury, and now what was expected to be his rise back to the top.

She liked Ezra. She **really** did. It turned out they had a hell of a lot more in common than she'd ever considered, and Spencer had known exactly what she was doing, trying to get the two of them to meet.

But the last thing Aria wanted to do was write the memoirs of someone who lived to play a sport that she couldn't stand. Regardless, she didn't have a choice, or so she'd been told. When her editor had told her about the book, the so-called offer for her to write it wasn't so much an offer as it was a forewarning to the fact that they expected her to do as much. She was **expected** to pack her bags and spend the next four months living her life like a football player, attending practices and games so that she could include every juicy tidbit. She was also expected to interview other players on the team about their thoughts on Ezra and his playing…and all she wanted to do was quit. She couldn't, though, because she couldn't be out of a job.

A knock sounded at her door, and she stood from her desk, closing her laptop a bit roughly before she walked over and opened it. Standing just outside on her doormat, stood Ezra.

"Hey," he greeted softly. "I just heard from Carson," he said of the team manager. "He said that you were picked up by HarperCollins."

Aria laughed haughtily as she allowed him entry into her apartment.

"More like they picked me up and refused to put me down," she grumbled. She picked up her glass of wine off her desk and walked over to her couch, Ezra following closely behind her. They both sat, and then she turned and faced him, pulling her legs up under herself. "I hate it, Ezra. I hate doing this job, and yet I can't even afford to quit it."

"I'm sorry," he replied sympathetically.

Aria huffed, determined not to cry. "I know you don't get it. I know that you love what you do, and that's great….but I don't want any part of it. I just want out."

"That's not necessarily true," he disagreed.

Aria furrowed her brow at him. "What're you talking about."

"What you said," he stated. "About me not knowing what it's like to hate my job. There have definitely been times that I've hated it. Besides, when I got knocked into this job, it wasn't the original plan. Yeah, I signed up for the draft and it happened, but that had to do with a lot of pressure from my mom's family," he stated.

Aria's expression softened somewhat, and she became curious. "Really?"

Ezra nodded. "My grandfather was the head coach of my high school team," he told her. "He pushed me to play, from Pop Warner all the way through high school, and even into college. And I mean, I liked it. I was definitely _good_ at it. But I don't know that it's an avenue I would've pursued if that hadn't been pushed upon me."

Aria frowned at him. "I'm sorry." She offered him her wine glass. He took it and sipped from it before handing the glass back to her. "Why stay, then? If you don't want to be there?"

Ezra shrugged. "Way back in the beginning, I used it as an excuse to see my dad. I hadn't seen him for years, until I got into college and he started showing up to the games, because my mom wouldn't let him near us growing up. I think there was a part of me that thought if I stopped playing, he'd quit showing up."

"Didn't you say he died like two years ago?" She asked gently.

Ezra nodded, shifting his gaze to something beyond her, and then down at his hands. "Yeah. Like two days before he died, I visited him in the hospital, and we were getting set to go into the play-offs, and he told me he was proud of me," Ezra explained. "He said he believed I could do it-I could win the whole thing." He paused, and then shook his head as a tear tried to make its way out. He wiped it away.

"He said he didn't care about my career then," he continued. "But after that, I couldn't quit. I wanted to be able to do something really special in his name; make it a whole season, you know?"

Aria nodded.

"But then I got injured in the big game, and there were still so many issues with my hand when last year started, and I was so determined to make things happen for him." Ezra paused and sighed. He glanced up at Aria again. "I'm trying again, this year," he explained. "I want to do this for him. No matter what the outcome. After that, I don't care if I keep playing or not. But I want to do this much for him."

Aria smiled solemnly at him, gently squeezed his shoulder. "That's great, Ezra. Really awesome. I think he'd be really proud of you." 

Ezra nodded nervously. "I hope so."

"I'm positive," Aria insisted. "For all the tape I've watched on you in the past few months, and then the past few weeks, he couldn't have asked for more."

Ezra smiled at her, and they stared at each other for a moment. Then, without warning or forethought, Aria leaned forward and kissed him, surprising both Ezra and herself. After a second, she froze and then leaned back, panicked at what she'd just done.

"I- I'm so sorry," she stammered, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "That was-"

"Okay," Ezra stopped her. "It was completely fine."

Aria stared at him a long moment, nervously. "Are you sure," she asked. "I didn't mean-…it was inappropriate, and I don't know what came over-"

Ezra stopped her stammering then, leaned forward and gently cupped her chin, kissing her back. It took less than a second for Aria to sink into him, returning the action.

Yeah, Spencer had definitely been right. She'd known exactly what she was doing when she'd set them up.


	5. Second And Fifteen

**A/N:** I promise that follow-up to Stone Cold is coming! But today I was still driven by yesterday's oneshot. That said, I **do** plan on tomorrow being a follow-up for Stone Cold.

Also, I apologize for any typos. I do type these fairly quickly and **hate** proofing, although when I can convince myself to, it does get done. So if I've missed anything, I apologize.

Finally, if you're reading these, **please** review. I hate asking for them, but it's been three **long** years that I've struggled to get myself to write regularly, and every bit of encouragement helps.

 _Second And Fifteen_

"So I've got a tough one for you," Aria commented as she typed into her laptop. She reached down and pressed a button on her phone to start voice recording before pushing it closer to Ezra.

"Okay," Ezra said as he nuzzled the side of her neck. Aria chuckled. She'd been on the road with him for about two months, and while she still wasn't loving her job, getting to write about the guy she was dating made it a bit easier.

"Seriously," Aria told him as she gently pushed him back. Ezra sighed softly, but shifted back into his seat.

"Okay," he repeated, more serious this time. "Lay it on me."

"What was it like playing through the game when you broke your wrist?" Aria asked.

"Oh wow," Ezra stated as he leaned back, stretching his upper body. "I mean, there was no way I wasn't going to play. But you have to have the full story, right?" He asked.

Aria nodded, gently pushing her phone towards him a bit more. "In your own words."

Ezra nodded. "Okay. So we'd done alright the first half of the season, and then we did even better in the last half of it, but it came down to the last game whether or not we were going into the playoffs. We fought hard, and we got lucky to make it in as a wildcard, and then we kicked ass in the next three games.

"So anyway, we were headed to the half, and I was trying to get the ball downfield with like twenty seconds left. It's second down, we're twelve yards back, ball snaps. Dixon, my center, tosses the ball a bit rough, so the ball bobbles in my hand, but I get it, and then I back up and start scrambling. I run out of the pocket with three defenders chasing after me, circle around, and then stop, 'cause I've got a guy down field by the end zone. I don't know what I was thinking, other than just 'please, God, let this land in his hands'. I whipped my arm back and then chucked the ball out just as half the defense came running at me."

He paused to take a sip of his drink, and then leaned back in his seat once more. "I don't really remember what happened after that very clearly. Something like three guys charged me at once to get me down, and then-I know this only because I saw the game footage after-a fourth guy jumped on the back of the guy directly in front of me, and I finally went down.

"I really don't know what hit my arm after that," he commented. "The guy on top of me slid over the front of my helmet so I couldn't see anything, and all I know is that I felt something come down directly on my arm, and it hurt so bad in that split second that I screamed. I was told later that there were people in the stands that heard me."

"I can't imagine," Aria said, cringing just imagining what that must've been like. She'd seen the footage he was referring too-she'd actually just pulled it up a few days earlier for reference, knowing that they would be discussing the injury soon. Still, talking about it, and even seeing it, didn't really equal up to what it must've felt like.

Ezra nodded. "Anyhow, all these flags had gone flying for unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing the passer-specifically on me-but," he paused, chuckled. "When I finally got up two minutes later, we'd scored and had a ten point lead. Plus, we were gonna get the ball back when the half was done."

"Wow," Aria muttered under her breath. She finished typing her thoughts and then looked back at Ezra. "So how do you make the choice to go back out after getting hurt like that? How do you keep playing?"

Ezra waved a dismissive hand at her. "There wasn't even a question. I wasn't going to quit in the face of all that, so I argued with the team doctor, and the coach and team manager said as long as my playing wasn't hindering us more than it was helping, I could continue."

"So you went back out," Aria commented.

Ezra nodded again. "Yeah. I mean I certainly struggled through it, pain-wise. But I was determined, and thank God adrenaline actually does something dull it, so I managed."

"And then you did your post-game interview and the celebration," Aria replied. "How'd you get through that?"

Ezra inhaled a deep breath and laughed. "Some strong pain medication. I mean, I couldn't really leave right away as it was. They named me MVP, and I was expected to give a speech, so right after they dumped the gatorade on the coach, a team doctor passed me Vicodin and a water bottle."

"Still," Aria stated. "I can't imagine having stick around for over an hour after the end of it all, feeling pain and knowing intellectually that there's something seriously wrong."

Ezra shrugged. "It's the job. I did what I had to."

Aria made a few notes on her computer, and then closed it and tapped her phone to stop the recording.

"Alright, I've done twenty minutes of work," she stated. "I'm done."

Ezra reached out and tugged on her hand, and Aria moved out of her chair, into his lap, looping her arms around his neck.

"You comin' to see the game tomorrow," Ezra asked her.

Aria nodded. "Yeah. Spencer's flying in, and Hardy's coming too."

Ezra furrowed his brow. "I thought Hardy was still laid up from breaking his leg."

Aria shrugged. She hadn't heard from Spencer much in the past few weeks due to her boyfriend's injury. They'd gone snowmobiling in upstate New York the week after Thanksgiving, and reckless riders had zoomed past them, causing them to hit a large rock and go flying twenty feet. Spencer ended up with minor injuries-mostly scratches and bruises, but she'd also ended up with stitches in her shins and under her chin, while Hardy had a number of deep cuts on his face that required stitches, and several breaks in his right tibia, as well as his ACL. Because of all of his injuries, the accident made the news, and for more than a week afterwards, no one would stop talking about it.

"As far as I know, he's been cleared to travel and do whatever he wants, as long as he's safe, so we'll be in a private box," Aria explained.

"And you're going to cheer?" Ezra teased. He knew Aria didn't enjoy football, although she'd made an attempt at gaining some knowledge about football since they'd started.

"Yes," she stated. "And for the right team this time."

Ezra chuckled, and then kissed her.

.,.

Aria yawned as she settled her phone on the counter in front of herself, adjusting her seat. She was still waiting for Spencer and Hardy to arrive, but at the moment, Ezra was down on the field running warm-up drills, and she'd just gotten off the phone with her mom. Ella was no more a fan of football than Aria was, though Byron was. However, her mom had called to tell her she'd be tuning in since it seemed to be expected that they'd be shown on TV at some point since Hardy had tweeted out that morning that he was in Denver to support Ezra. As it was, the boys had just closed their deal with several distributors, and were now shopping for a space to open the bookstore they'd been talking about opening. As far as Aria knew, they had their eye on a few spaces, and if all went well, they were planning to announce right after the New Year that they would be opening.

The door creaked open behind her, and Aria turned in her seat, smiling when she spotted Spencer.

"Hey," she greeted cheerfully. She jumped down off her chair and walked over, hugging the taller girl. Spencer hugged her back, and when Aria stepped back, she took the moment to inspect her best friend's injuries.

"Whoa," Aria murmured as she turned Spencer's chin up slightly. her stitches had been removed and it had healed up almost completely, though the area was bright pink now with freshly-healed skin.

"I don't look nearly as bad as he does," Spencer commented.

Aria stepped back, and as she did, she finally saw Hardy for the first time since before the accident. Her eyes widened. While most of his stitches appeared to have been removed, there was still stitches above his right eyebrow, and several bruises still marred his skin near the healing cuts. His leg was also bound from mid-thigh down to his foot in a cast.

"God, man," Aria said as she stepped towards Hardy. "How in the hell did you survive that accident," she asked as she hugged him gently.

"We landed in fresh snow," he replied honestly. "I had more than one doctor tell me that if we had been on four-wheelers and it had been any other season, we probably would've been injured far worse. But I swear I look worse than I feel."

Aria stared at him skeptically as she stepped back once more. "You sure about that?"

Hardy nodded. "Hell yeah. I'd be back at the batting cages if they'd let me go."

"Because you can't stand?" Aria asked.

"Nah," Hardy replied. He moved towards the counter and settled his crutches against them before moving a chair back so he could sit. "I've got no problem being on one foot. I've got bone bruising on my shoulder and upper arm, so they won't let me go back until that's all healed."

Yet again, all Aria could manage to say was 'wow' as she shook her head at him.

.,.

"Are you sure you don't need a wheelchair," Aria asked Hardy as she sat down on the floor of a hall inside the stadium. They'd all decided to wait for Ezra after the game had ended-his team had won-but last she'd heard, he'd only just took the podium to answer post-game questions.

Hardy shook his head, lowering himself to the floor with the help of his crutches. "Nah. I'm sick of being in those things. Seriously, my tailbone hurts."

Aria and Spencer laughed, shaking their heads at him.

"My mom texted," Aria announced as she checked her messages. "She said 'Spencer, it's good to see you healing up well, and Hardy needs to chill because he still looks like someone tried to run him over."

Spencer and Hardy laughed.

"Tell your mom thanks," Hardy joked. "It's a new look I'm trying out."

The door to the press room opened, and Aria looked up as several people walked out. The door started to slide shut behind them, and then just as it was about to shut, a hand grasped it and pulled it back open, and Ezra walked out with Clayton following quickly behind him.

"So we- oh hey, Aria, and Aria's-... oh my God, you're Hardy Daniels."

Aria laughed as she stood up. She stepped up next to Ezra and kissed his cheek, hugging him.

"Proud of you," she murmured to him. Ezra leaned down and pecked her on the lips, thanking her softly.

"Yeah," Hardy replied, watching as Spencer got up. He adjusted his crutches on the floor, and then set his jaw, trying to figure out how he was going to get up.

"Need a lift, man?" Ezra asked as he looked over at the baseball player.

Hardy huffed, but then nodded.

"Gimme a hand, Clay," Ezra asked. The two men stepped over to Hardy, each gently gripping him under his triceps. "Which arm has the bone bruising?"

"Left," Hardy replied, glancing at Clayton. "So be gentle, please."

"Not a problem man," Clayton replied. He rested his other hand under Hardy elbow and then shifted his other hand so he was lifting with his arm instead of his hand. Ezra counted to three, and then they pulled Hardy up from the floor with ease.

"Thanks," Hardy commented as he settled once more on his crutches. He extended a hand to Clayton. "Hardy. Nice to meet you."

Clayton shook his hand. "Clayton Carlson. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"So now that you two have met and ogled each other, can we go?" Ezra asked, taking Aria's hand into his. "I'm hungry."

"Me too," Hardy stated. He glanced over at Clayton. "You want to come?"

"Let me call my wife and see if she wants to go," Clayton replied, pulling his phone out and stepping away from the group.

"Did you enjoy the game," Ezra asked Aria as he brushed his nose up against hers.

Aria smiled, kissing him quickly. "As much as you can enjoy something you don't really understand," she commented. Ezra chuckled and then kissed her chastely.

"Give me enough time," he teased. "I'll have you understanding every little move."


	6. At Last

**A/N:** This is the follow-up to Stone Cold y'all have been asking for! I hope it satisfies. Also, **fair warning,** artificial insemination is lightly discussed, so if you're not interested in reading about that, skip past the second sentence in the second paragraph :). If it doesn't bother you, I tried my best to keep it clean (and as-near clinical terminology) as I could.

As always, please review and let me know what you think, especially after a day like today when I had to muster up the drive to pound out these words. Please and thank you!

 _At Last_

Aria yawned as she rocked Lily in her arms, weary from the day. Her two year old daughter had been given the run of the schedule for the day, as it was one of the few days that had come up in her parents schedules where they both had a full free day, so they had decided to let Lily decide what they were doing.

Their day had started out with breakfast at Ezra and Aria's favorite restaurant-Lily was also partial to it, as they had pancakes that covered the entire plate. Afterwards, they had headed out to the park, where they had spent the better part of two hours taking time chasing her around. While they had been there, Emily had shown up with Kalina, the daughter of herself and Alison. The two girls had gone the cheap route with IVF, and had sought out a friend of a friend who was willing to donate his genetic material. She hadn't asked much about it, but shortly after she and Spencer had made up when she was pregnant with Lily, Emily had announced she was expecting.

The period of time following that had been hectic. Aria wondered how Spencer would handle the news, due to how she'd reacted when Ezra and herself had announced their pregnancy. Still, Aria and Ezra hadn't been trying to get pregnant, while Emily and Alison clearly had.

As it was, Spencer didn't say much about it for several months. She and Aria grew close again-possibly even closer than they had been before Aria had gotten pregnant-and it wasn't until Aria was in her eighth month of pregnancy with Lily that Spencer finally opened up to how she felt. She'd admitted that she was a bit miffed that Emily and Alison had decided to try and get pregnant-and that they had conceived only shortly after Aria realized she was pregnant herself. Still, she explained to Aria that she was doing her best to keep her emotions at bay, and not let them drive her friends away from her the way she'd let them keep her and Aria from speaking for so long.

Even with the two month difference in conception, Lily and Kalina were only a month apart in age, as Kalina had been born several weeks early, following unforeseen complications in Emily's pregnancy.

Following the girls play date, they had headed over to Ella and Byron's place, where she had put Lily down for her late morning nap. Ezra had headed out shortly after she'd gone down to pick up lunch from The Brew, while Aria had spent the downtime helping her mother bake cookies for a fundraiser Rosewood Day was having the following week.

The visit itself had been good. Ella had just recently had her year two exam to check that she was still in remission, and she had only received the results that morning, telling her that she was still in the clear. Mother and daughter had celebrated with two large cups of coffee, while Aria continued to hope that her mother would stay healthy. Lily was already as attached to her grandmother as she could possibly be without actually living with her, and Aria wasn't sure what she'd do if they ever lost her mother. As it was, her parents were the closest thing Ezra had to a functioning extended family, as well.

.,.

Following Lily's nap and lunch with Ella, they headed out again, this time to Philadelphia. Lily had been begging to go to the 'aminal store', which Aria and Ezra both knew she meant Build-A-Bear. They'd been trying to hold her off until Christmas, but their schedule was gearing up to get crazy around the holidays with both of them putting out individual books right after the holiday, so they'd decided to let her get it sooner than later.

Upon arriving, they had tried to convince her to pick a number of objects. Ezra had tried to get her interested in the Ewoks-he'd recently been watching Star Wars with their daughter, much to Aria's chagrin-while Aria had shown Lily every variation of the reindeer they had on display, as well as all the options from My Little Pony. Lily would not be deterred though; she ultimately settled on Baymax from Big Hero 6, and while Aria wasn't sure her daughter had actually seen the movie, she'd watched the preview for it about a million times on Aria's phone, and as such kept saying 'hairy baby' the entire time they were building Baymax. Aria couldn't help but wonder if that's what Lily thought his name actually was.

Following Build-a-Bear, they stopped at Starbucks for coffee and ordered Lily a tall hot cocoa before heading to another park for a bit. They only headed back to the city when Spencer called and asked if she was free to come hang out, so Ezra had decided to go meet up with Hardy for the afternoon as well.

Lily had been so rambunctious on the ride back to Rosewood, Aria was sure she'd never chill out, but upon arriving at Spencer's, she'd dug into the toys Spencer and Hardy kept around for her and Kalina for about ten minutes, before she'd crawled up into Aria's lap, curled up against her, and fallen asleep.

Spencer walked out of the kitchen carrying a tray of snacks and several waters, and glanced down at Lily.

"Do you want to put her down?" She asked.

Aria shrugged. "I'll keep her for a few more minutes."

Spencer nodded. She curled up on the lounging chair across from the couch Aria was on, and twisted off the cap to her water.

"How's it going with you guys trying to get her into that preschool?" She asked.

Aria sighed. "It's frustrating. All we want to be able to do is get her into a program with kids going at her speed, and the daycare can't offer us that. I swear this school is worse than trying to apply to college."

"Well you know what they say," Spencer commented with a chuckle. "Start 'em out in the right preschool, and they'll sail right into all the right school programs. You won't even have to try by the time it comes to the ivy leagues."

Aria rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I don't care if all she ever does is panhandle, if that's what makes her happy. But right now, I'd like to know she's getting all she can while she's still absorbing knowledge like a weed."

Spencer nodded. "Are you guys still going to sign language classes to keep teaching her?"

Aria nodded as well. "And she still watches the Spanish cartoons. Hell, I think she carries a better conversation with Emily's grandma than I do at this point. Plus, I swear I saw her tell Mrs. Fields that green was an ugly color last week."

Spencer laughed. Lily stirred a bit in Aria's arms, and then settled her once more. When she had, Spencer pointed towards the junior futon along the far wall of the room. It was yet another purchase she and Hardy had made for the kids so that when the girls were over visiting, they could put them down in the same room. Plus, when they were awake, it made for a cute place for them to sit.

Aria stood and walked over to it, settled Lily on it before covering her with a blanket and then returning to the couch she had been on before, though now she sat on the end so only an end table filled the space between herself and Spencer.

"So how have you been?" Aria asked. They'd been working a lot lately, which had kept them from seeing each other-and really all five of the girls from keeping in touch, due to their schedules.

Spencer shrugged, sipping her water. "Really tired. I can't wait for Christmas. Hardy and I are both taking ten days off."

Aria smiled. "I miss vacations. Remind me what they're like?" 

Spencer chuckled. "Well, we're taking this one on purpose. I don't think we'll be having any for a while after."

Aria furrowed her brow, confused. "Why?" 

Spencer laughed nervously and stared down at her drink. When she didn't immediately respond, Aria quickly jumped to the best conclusion.

"Spence, are you pregnant?" She asked.

Spencer looked up at her tearfully, and then laughed once more, unable to speak. She nodded instead.

"Oh my gosh," Aria said gleefully. She jumped out of her seat and moved over to Spencer's chair, sitting on the edge of it to hug her. It took a moment, but Spencer was finally able to make sound-though at that point it was just audible laughter. It took her a minute more before she could finally form words.

"I've been so scared to tell anyone," she explained. "After the past few years, I wanted everything to be okay."

Aria nodded as she leaned back, though she didn't move off the chair. Spencer moved around, shifting so they were both sitting fully on the large chair, though somewhat haphazardly. Aria rubbed her hand up and down Spencer's back.

"How far along are you?" Aria asked.

"Three and a half months," Spencer replied. "I don't even know that I would've said anything still yet, but the kid is starting to stick out," she said as she lifted her shirt slightly. Granted, it wasn't much to the untrained eye, but in the center of her lower abdomen, there was just a slight curve.

"Aww," Aria cooed as tears filled her own eyes. She looked back up at Spencer and the two girls laughed before Aria hugged her again.

"I never thought we'd get here," Spencer told her, and Aria nodded, squeezing her tighter.

It certainly had been a long road. Aria knew Spencer and Hardy had tried to conceive again a few months after their miscarriage, but after nothing seemed to happen, they decided to put it on the back-burner and focus on their wedding. Then, shortly after their wedding she had discovered she was pregnant again, but within a week of taking the test, she miscarried a second time.

Following that loss, they had decided to take a break avoid getting pregnant on purpose. More than a year passed before Spencer even mentioned wanting a baby again, and it had only been some eight months before that she had told Aria that they were expecting again, having even waited until she was just about through her first trimester, only to find out a few weeks later that her body stopped supporting the pregnancy around the tenth week. At that point, Spencer stopped talking about having kids all together, and when it was brought up to Hardy, he stated that he was trying to get her to come around to the idea of adoption. Spencer had mentioned it **once** about four months earlier, and then never spoke of it again.

"So is this why you guys stopped talking about adoption," Aria asked.

"Yes and no," Spencer replied. "We stopped talking about it outside of just ourselves because we found out we were expecting, but regardless of how this pregnancy goes, we're going to file with an agency soon," she stated. "I just don't want to find myself taking care of possibly three newborns, since we have the possibility of twins on both sides," she explained. "We agreed if this all goes well, we'll file within a year after birth." Spencer paused, inhaled a deep breath. "And if it doesn't, we'll probably file after a few months after. I don't want to wait anymore."

Aria nodded. She glanced over at Lily and silently thanked God that she'd been so lucky on her first pregnancy. Granted, there was no way to know what would happen with her next pregnancy; she and Ezra were hoping to start trying sometime in the spring, but time would be the only way to tell.

Her phone chimed on the table, and she reached out to grab it, opening the text she'd received. She laughed.

"It's Ezra," she told Spencer. "He said 'finally, a baby! Did she tell you? Can't wait. Oh Em Gee. Yay'."

Both of the girls laughed, and Aria typed back a response that Spencer had told her before placing her phone back on the table.

"Thank you," Spencer murmured to her when Aria had placed her phone back down. "For always supporting us, even when I got angry with my own life and took it out on you."

Aria shook her had, looping her arm around Spencer in a side hug. "No need to apologize. I can't imagine going through what you have. Anyway, one thing is for sure."

Spencer leaned back a bit and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"I can't wait anymore than Ezra for this kid to get here."


	7. Fairytale

**A/N:** Today's is probably the shortest story I've written yet, mostly because I don't want to miss the CMAs, so this is what you get. Hope you enjoy!

 _Fairytale_

"Tell me a story, daddy."

Ezra smirked as he looked down at Lily curled up against his shoulder. She had always gotten a story before bed-usually something she picked out from her bookcase-but recently, she'd been pressing her parents to come up with something new. They didn't mind-himself and Aria-but Lily had quickly grown bored of the typical "A princess named Lily" stories, and wanted something more interesting. Due to that, they'd moved on to trying books for kids a little older. After all, Aria had started her early with those 'your baby can read' programs, and it was more than clear that their nearly three year-old daughter had at least some basic understanding of what she was reading. Hell, she'd read The Very Hungry Catipillar from beginning to end more times than he could count.

"What kind of story, baby?" He asked.

"One about an angel," she said. "Auntie Spencer says she has three."

Lily had said things like that before, and while Ezra had heard them before, it never failed to make his heart skip a beat. There were things that Lily didn't understand about all of that, that she wouldn't for years to come. But if talking about angels made her happy, then that's what he would do.

.,.

Aria looked up from her computer, pushing her hair up out of her face as Ezra walked into the bedroom.

"How's it coming along," he asked as he walked into the room. Aria exhaled heavily as she leaned back against the headboard.

"I just can't get the tuning right on this picture," she replied. "And I know the mom wants this picture." "That's the kid who just passed from leukemia, right?" He asked.

Aria nodded. "She called in the other night and asked if we had any unfinished or unedited prints. Kenny wanted to charge her full price for them."

Ezra scowled at the mention of the man who ran the gallery where Aria showed her pictures. All the man cared about was money.

"So what'd you tell him today when you went in," Ezra asked as he got up onto his side of their bed.

Aria closed her computer and moved it off the bed onto the nightstand before tucking her legs under the blankets and moving closer to Ezra.

"I told him he could take his demands and shove them, and if he had an issue with me giving a grieving mother the photos she didn't keep in her package that he could watch me go and sell my photos to a gallery in Philadelphia without so much as a kiss goodbye," Aria told him. "And I know that wouldn't fly well with him because the picture of Lily kissing Gracie has been bought twenty times in the last month," Aria explained. Ezra nodded. Aria had taken the picture on a whim the day she'd gone to shoot newborn shots for Spencer and Hardy, and had had to take Lily with her because Ezra had to work. Every single family member in each of their families had asked for a copy as soon as Aria had posted it on Facebook.

"So did he back down," Ezra asked.

Aria shrugged. "He didn't say anything to me one way or the other. So I told his wife when I was leaving that if he didn't get over himself that I'd be back in a week to take down my prints, and they'd never see me again.

Ezra nodded. "You know my stance. If it makes you happy, do it."

They moved down in the bed, and Aria snuggled up to him.

"So one question before we go to sleep," Ezra asked as he turned the light over his bed off.

Aria rested her chin on his shoulder. "Hmm?"

"When's baby number two coming," he asked.

Aria shrugged. "Whenever you decide to start trying?"

Ezra smirked at her, and raised an eyebrow. "So tonight?"

"Well, I'm kinda tired," Aria said as she leaned back, though she couldn't hold in her giggles.

"Oh really," Ezra said as he moved with her and began to nuzzle her neck. "So you don't want me to do this," he asked before sucking gently on the spot under her ear. Aria moaned softly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"No no," she replied quickly. "Keep going."


	8. Best of Intentions

**A/N:** I am **SO** sorry about last night's post not happening. I was asked last minute to work for someone as a fill-in, and didn't get home until 11 PM, at which point, I was shot. That said, I have a funeral/memorial to attend tomorrow, and a birthday party on Sunday during which the entire family is planning to watch the football game, so I will do my best to get at least one fic up this weekend, but I don't want to make any promises, just in case.

That said, this fic will be Troick. If you don't have any interest in Troick or this vehemently offends you because it's technically not PLL, then I'll pull it down tomorrow. (In general, I really just wanted to let you guys know why I hadn't posted, anyway.)

 _Best Of Intentions_

It seemed unreal that once upon a time, Troian had ended their relationship with no more an excuse than the statement 'I just don't think this is going in the right direction'. As Patrick stood, watching Troian turn in her dress, he couldn't fathom the fact that she'd once thought that their time together was beyond the effort. The very mention of those few weeks in early 2010 seemed like another lifetime at this point. Yet in the same moment, he could recall those days with a clarity so bright that it felt burned into his skull.

He remembered the way she had spoken-it was a candor he'd long since grown used to, that seemed to draw from a place of unfortunate sorrow. She'd sat across from him in his living room and commented on how their lives seemed to be headed in separate directions. Pretty Little Liars was filming in LA, and he was seeking roles all over the country. Suits hadn't yet been picked up to series, leaving him with no solid idea of where his life was headed. He wondered in the time after that if that's what drove her to make the choice to end the relationship.

Whether or not that was the case, he never bothered to ask. To be entirely honest about it, he really didn't give a damn what drove her to make the choice. He accepted that it was her choice, but the same way she made the choice to separate, he wasn't ready to just let her go without trying. Though they hadn't said 'I love you' to one another, it didn't take him long after they'd reunited for him to realize that's exactly how he felt. It wasn't until then that he realized that that's what had driven him to try and earn her back in the first place.

"Where are you at?"

He looked up and smiled at Troian.

"Reminiscing," he replied. He leaned forward and kissed her chastely, though hardly a second passed before he heard cheering and glasses clinking. She giggled against his mouth and grabbed the lapels of his suit, pulling him tighter against her as his tongue slid into her mouth.

They finally parted a moment later, and he grinned cheekily at her as she giggled.

"Reminiscing about what," she asked as she looped her arms around his neck.

"You," he said. "How we could've almost not ended up here, if I had been an idiot." 

"I'm so glad you weren't," Troian told him. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else **with** anyone else now."

He smiled, leaned forward and brushed his lips against her cheek. Troian tightened her arms around his neck, and he hugged her back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the bridge and groom, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Johannes Adams," the DJ stated in that moment. Patrick and Troian looked over at him, and Patrick smirked.

"What's going on?" Troian asked him.

"So, Patrick passed me a note a while, and asked me to play this for you, Troian," the DJ stated. "He says 'I know it's not your choice in music, but it's how I feel.'."

The music began to play, and instantly, Troian could tell it was country.

"Did Lucy help you pick this out," she asked.

Patrick shrugged, resting his hands on her hips. "I asked a few people about something to say what I feel, and she's this was the song I liked best." 

Troian nodded, and then pressed her finger to his lips, listening as the first words began to come from the speakers.

" _I had big plans for our future; said I'd give you the whole world somehow  
I tried making good on that promise; thought I'd be so much further by now…" _

Patrick nodded as the music streamed through the speakers, confirming their validity as they came, and Troian smiled, leaned forward and kissed him. As she leaned back once more, he mouthed the words to her.

" _Now some people think I'm a loser 'cause I seldom get things right  
But you make me feel like a winner, when you wrap me in your arms so tight…." _

Troian's eyes grew glassy as tried to keep her emotions at bay. He didn't blame her-they'd both certainly shed enough tears throughout their ceremony, but he wanted her to know.

" _And if you could read my heart, then you'd know without exception  
It was all best of intentions…" _

"Aww, babe, there nothing I know more than that," she said tearfully into his ear as she hugged him tightly once more.

"I just never want you to question it," he told her. "I never want you to believe otherwise."

Troian leaned back once more, pecked him quickly, and rested her forehead against his.

"Goes both ways, you know," she told him. "Every missed move, and every failure, was all only with the best of intentions."

Patrick just smiled back at her before lifting his hand to the back of her head, kissing her once more.


	9. First Strike Infield

**A/N: I** **'m SO sorry, you guys!** I know I told you at the end of last week that the weekend was packed, and it was, but if you read my blog (unsentthoughts at wordpress) or follow my twitter (adamsbellisario), you know why I haven't written this week. If not and you're actually curious, please just read my blog post entitled Wanted You More. That all said, I'm going to try to get back to writing these daily, or at least every other day. (Please keep in mind when I'm not, I'm trying very hard to be writing anything at all, and it's not always this.)

So I said these fics were going to be Ezria/Spardy centric, and right now I'm getting into Spardy, simply because I can define them better around what my muse needs to get out. That said, there **will** be fics that basically flat-out state how much I dislike Toby, so if you're a Spoby fan, I wouldn't read these. (I wouldn't write them as a Spardy fan anyway, but still.)

 _First Strike Infield_

Spencer yawned as she looked at herself in the mirror, brushed her thumb against the bottom of her chin. There was still a slight scab there, but it seemed to be fading. She certainly considered herself more grateful than Hardy. He had been largely what broke her fall, granted she'd slid off of him which is what had led to her ending up with the cuts she'd sustained, but she knew that it easily could've been ten times worse.

Hardy hopped over to doorway and gripped the frame, staring at her for a brief moment.

"What're you doing?" He asked.

Spencer grimaced at him, dropping her hands to her sides. "Trying to leave these scabs alone. They're driving me nuts."

He reached out and grabbed her shirt, tugging her to the doorway. He lifted her chin and glanced at the still-healing wound in the light, and then shook his head.

"You look fine. By the way, they're taking pictures at that event tomorrow, so-"

"Shut up," she growled, shaking her head at him. She knew he was trying to keep her from picking at the wounds, but they itched constantly and drove her nuts.

The event he was referring to was a sports gala. They'd been invited along with Ezra and Aria, though Ezra would be there to present an award, and Aria would be writing an article which would be in several papers. On the other hand, Hardy was nominated as MVP for his team and largely expected to win. Only time would tell if that would actually be the case.

"You wanna do something else?" Hardy asked her.

"Like what, gimpy?" She teased.

"Oh, I don't know," he replied, sliding his hand down her back. "I'm sure we could come up with _something_." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Please?"

Spencer just rolled her eyes at him.

.,.

The accident wasn't supposed to happen. They were supposed to be enjoying themselves and spending time with friends, and they had headed into a messier trail with higher elevation and sharper turns. They'd been forewarned before they headed out that they needed to take their time and not rush out all at once because people would get hurt. For the most part, the group of people they were with had followed those rules, but there had been people there who weren't a part of their group. It was more than clear that they hadn't paid attention to what they should have, because Spencer and Hardy had only just passed the highest peak of elevation when they'd heard people coming behind them. All she'd heard from Hardy after that was 'trash or crash', which apparently had to do with the fact that he was trying to decide whether they were going to hit a tree or crash the snowmobile, with how fast the other riders were gaining on them. As it was, when the other riders came up on them, it was all Hardy could do to jerk the snowmobile into the direction of the boulder they hit so they didn't slam into a tree three feet later.

"How's your leg," Spencer asked as she watched him adjust the brace on his leg. He'd only recently graduated to it, but it was still fairly binding, and he wasn't able to wear long pants yet, which was possibly the most irritating part.

"It's cold," he whined. "It wants to be covered by warm pants."

Spencer stifled a chuckle and squeezed his good leg, turning towards him. "If its any consolation, mine are cold, too."

Hardy glanced down at her legs and rolled his eyes. She was dressed in a knee-length black chiffon dress that hugged her torso and flowed out from her waist.

"You look hot," he argued.

Spencer grimaced, shook her head as she moved her legs over his. "Are you kidding me? These scabs are disgusting."

"I thought you were putting bandages on them," Hardy commented as he brushed his fingers over her shins.

Spencer shrugged. "Aria's gonna do it when we get there." She turned her head and glanced out the window. They were due to be at the hotel the gala was being held at fairly soon, but they'd gotten a late start because Hardy had gone to the ER that morning with pain in his leg that had started the night before. Dozens of x-rays and an MRI later, they'd come to the conclusion that it was pain from his leg continuing to heal, but they'd lost the whole morning and most of the afternoon because of it. Thus, they'd had to rush to get ready when they finally made it back to the hotel.

The car idled up outside a large building, and based on the amount of people standing outside of it, Spencer could only assume they were where they were supposed to be. She opened the door and stepped out, spotting Aria after a long moment. Her short friend was standing next to a baseball player on Hardy's team with her phone out, clearly recording whatever the man was saying.

"Ready," she asked as she reached behind herself to grab his crutches off the floor. Hardy nodded. She stepped out of the car and stood, pulling the crutches with her. Hardy passed her the clutch she'd brought her personals in, and then she reached back and offered him a hand to get out of the car. It took them a solid minute to get up onto the curb. When Hardy finally had his footing, Ezra walked over to them.

"NIce outfit," he commented at Hardy. Hardy scowled at him.

"Do I look like I really had a choice in my clothing?" He replied.

"Whoa," Ezra commented. "Don't take off my neck, pitbull."

"We were at the ER all morning," Spencer commented. "And we got dicked around because they tried to say he was a quote 'typical athlete pill popper' who wanted drugs but couldn't get them now that the season is over."

"Wow," Ezra muttered ."Harsh."

"Can we go inside," Hardy asked, looking at Spencer. She just nodded in response.

.,.

Half an hour later, she and Aria had met up in the bathroom and properly bandaged Spencer up before they headed for the ballroom. Shortly thereafter, the ceremony began. Fortunately it was one that supplied dinner and drinks, so Hardy seemed to settle by the time Ezra headed for the stage.

As he stepped up to the podium, he adjusted index cards in his hands, clearly nervous. Even so, Aria was still standing in front of her seat, snapping photos.

Ezra cleared his throat.

"So when I was asked to do this, I told the bigwigs I wouldn't present an award unless I could choose which one. After that, I told them, I'd only present it to someone I knew, at which point they laughed in my face and told me they didn't need me that bad," he stated. The crowd of athletes in the room laughed.

"Nonetheless," Ezra continued, "I prevailed. They offered me this award about two weeks ago, and I thought that was awesome…at least until I realized they were asking me to present the award, and not actually take it home."

The crowd laughed even more so, and Ezra smirked.

"Hey, I know I throw a football around, but I think I could manage to strike out some of you guys."

Boos mixed in with the laughter, and after a long moment of chuckling himself, Ezra finally began to pull at the seal on the envelope that had been placed on the podium for him.

"That all said, I present to you the MVP of the 2017 season," he stated as he opened it. Once he had it open, he stared at it for a long moment before finally looking up. "Oh wait, you guys want to know?" The crowd laughed again, and he smiled. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your MVP, Hardy Daniels."

Spencer glanced over at him gleefully, but Hardy rolled his eyes, even as a smile crossed his face. As they stood, she leaned over and hugged him, pressing her lips to his ear.

"Be happy," she murmured.

He kissed her cheek before replying, "pity vote."

"Bull," she replied. "Want me to come up with you?"

"To the stage at least," he replied. "Hold my crutches while I'm up there?"

Spencer nodded and then turned when he did, following on his heel. When he reached the stage, he looked both ways before looking up at Ezra skeptically.

"I can't get up there like this."

Ezra furrowed his brow for a moment, and then glanced over Hardy's head. He waved someone over, and a short second later, Clayton practically hopped over Hardy onto the stage. Hardy huffed at all the special attention, but passed his crutches off to Spencer.

"Push off with your good leg," Ezra said as he and Clayton leaned over the stage. They each curled a hand under Hardy's biceps while he grabbed their shoulders. As soon as they had him far enough up off the ground, he dug his foot into the top of the stage, pushing himself completely up. Clayton let go of his arm once he was standing at the podium, and he and Ezra moved off to the side of the stage.

Hardy laughed at the moment as he shifted on his good leg.

"I feel a bit like a diva right now," he commented, thankful when people laughed. A man from his team-someone he recognized as one of the rookie players-walked up next to him and presented him with the award. He chuckled, thrown off by the moment, but thanked the guy nonetheless.

"So, I'm not entirely sure how this happened, but I'm damn grateful," he commented, staring at the award for a moment. "There's a lot I could say about this season. God knows I wouldn't have gotten there without my guys, so thank you, and my girl…" Hardy paused, glanced down at Spencer. "Thank you. For everything."

Spencer blew a kiss up at him, and he smiled. He looked down at the award once more, and then back up again.

"One thing I **can** form a thought on is the fact that I don't know what happens next. I don't know if I come back from this accident." He spoke with a strained tone, trying to hold his emotions together. "If I do, that's amazing, and I'll be damn lucky. But if I don't, then damn it I was even more lucky to have had this year will all of you in this room. So thank you very much," he stated.

He stepped away from the podium a moment later, and Ezra and Clayton helped him once more, this time back to the floor. He and Spencer traded the crutches for the award, and once he was stable by himself, she leaned over and kissed him. He slid his tongue into her mouth, leading to her leaning into him.

"Thank you," he muttered with a breathless smirk when she'd leaned away.

"Not needed," Spencer said before leaning in and kissing him once more.


	10. One Thing Left To Say

_One Thing Left To Say_

The bed Ezra was attempting to rest on was lumpy. He kept shifting into different positions, but no matter which way he moved, it was still entirely too uncomfortable. He tossed left and right, back and forth, all to no avail. Plus it squeaked, which just made it all worse.

"You're going to have to talk to me sometime," Nicole called from the hospital bed five feet away. He glanced up at her and sighed. He didn't want to talk to _her._ If he talked to her about the current issue, that would just create a whole new can of worms.

"I can't," he told her. He shoved himself up into a seated position and ran a hand through his overgrown curly hair. He hadn't showered in three days, and it was becoming impossible to maintain while he was living out of a duffel bag at NYU Winthop Hospital.

"Come on, Ezra," Nicole chided. "It's not like we're together anymore or anything. It's been years."

Even with her excusing of the unfortunate end to their relationship, he still couldn't bring himself to talk to Nicole about himself and Aria. It didn't matter that Nicole had been missing for years, or that they had both long let go of ever seeing each other while she was considered missing and most-likely dead. It didn't even matter that she told him when she got home that she wasn't in any position to be in a relationship. He just couldn't bring himself to speak to her about the woman he had never stopped loving the entire time he'd been dating her; the very same woman he went back to when he'd finally managed to find closure in her presumptive death.

"I just can't," he muttered as he looked over at her. He shook his head. "I can't." 

Nicole huffed and stared up at the television, returning to silence. Ezra sighed softly and leaned back against the wall behind himself, picked up his phone and glanced at it. No missed calls or texts.

"Maybe you should just leave," Nicole told him after a long pause.

"You know I-"

"Just shut up, Ezra," she argued with him. "You and I both know that the only reason you're here is so my parents don't have to feel guilty for **not** being here." 

He stayed silent, feeling entirely unable to argue with her about the subject. He remembered what it was like after he'd come home after Nicole's kidnapping, how he'd worked tirelessly with her family for the first year to find her. Even so, after continuous investigating seemed to turn up nothing and the police began to suggest she was dead, her parents began to move on. It wasn't that they loved their daughter any less….but they had given up hope.

He tried to hang on for a while after that, push forward and find the answers where the police were missing them. He'd certainly learned a lot when he was attempting to research the girls for the book about Alison, but even he still continued to come up short. Just about the time he'd reached the bottom of his whiskey bottle and was ready to buy a gun and do himself in, he came home to find Aria standing in The Brew.

When they finally found Nicole, he was of course overjoyed to see her still alive, but he also knew within minutes that it was going to affect any imminent future plans with Aria. He knew there would be backlash from both Nicole and her family. About five seconds after he'd felt a world's worth of relief at finding her alive, dread over what the coming days would bring filled him.

Still, he fulfilled his duties. He returned home and did his best to show Aria that Nicole being alive changed nothing between them. He did his best to be a present fiance, but the more he tried to be in Rosewood with Aria, the more it seemed Nicole's parents were asking him to be in New York with her. The problem was, Ezra couldn't be the one to love her back to health; at least, not the way her family seemed to expect him to. It seemed as though they had long moved on with losing her and then grieving her, and thus no longer held a place for her now that she'd returned.

"I know you don't want to be here with me," she said in a softer tone after a few moments. "I know you're here because my parents ask you to be, and it's very generous. But I also know you have a life that I'm not a part of, because I couldn't be."

"Nicole," Ezra responded. "I'm sorry, I-"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Come on Ezra." She continued to speak in the same soft tone. "We both know that me being kidnapped and held prisoner means nothing when it comes to us not being together."

He furrowed his brow at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I knew there was someone else," she told him. "I **always** knew. And I always knew that my life wasn't something you wanted to commit to for the rest of yours. I still want to see other parts of the world and help where I can, even if it's in a nowhere town in a third world country. That was never going to be us together, because it would never be you."

Ezra stared at her skeptically, trying to figure out how badly she'd just insulted him.

"Look," she murmured. "I'm not being mean. I'm just saying, what he had was never going to be the last thing, the forever thing. It was fun and it was great, in it's own time. But that was then, and at the rate you're going, you're going to lose her before she gives you the rest of her life."

He sat quietly for a few minutes, mulling her words. He didn't know how much he agreed with what she was saying, but he also knew he couldn't necessarily prove that she wasn't telling him the whole truth. As it was, their last conversation **had** been a fight.

"Just go and call her," Nicole ordered him.

"But you-" he tried.

"I'm **fine** ," she insisted. She lifted the pump in her hand. "Plenty of pain meds to keep me happy." 

He couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him at her statement, and she smirked back at him.

"Now go," she insisted.

He was still leery of her insistence, but after a few seconds, he pushed up from the bed and walked out into the hall, turning his phone on once more. No service.

He headed out of the surgical ward towards the medical floor, but even as his service seemed to pick back up, he could barely get a bar or two. He wandered to the elevators, and took them down to the first floor, heading towards the entrance of the building as he finally managed to get three bars and get a call out.

The phone rang several times, and as he reached the door, he began to wonder if Aria would pick up. She'd been mad at him the last time they talked. He wasn't around enough to help plan the future he claimed to want, she'd said. She wasn't wrong.

After the ninth ring, the line finally clicked over. For a moment, he thought the voicemail had picked up, but there was a pause, followed by horns honking.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hi," her voice came back timidly.

"Where are you," Ezra asked as he stared out the window of the hospital. Cars milled in and out of parking space, passing back and forth in front of the entrance as people were dropped off and picked up by taxis-or if they were lucky, a car service.

"In New York," Aria replied. "I can't just keep sitting in Rosewood trying to plan a wedding that feels like it's never going to happen because you're spending all your time here."

"I'm doing everything I can to come home as soon as possible," Ezra told her. "Aria, I'm sorry." 

"Well I need you home now, damn it," she growled. He could tell by her tone that she was about to cry.

"What's wrong," he asked, feeling like the biggest asshole. He didn't seem to be doing anyone any good lately.

"Where are you?" She replied instead of answering.

"At the main drop-off entrance," he told her. "Why?"

"Because, I can't-…." She paused, and then the line died, and Ezra huffed. He waited for his screen to return to her ID page, pressing the dial button once more and lifting the phone back to his ear. People milled back and forth around him, and somewhere in the midst of it all, he could hear The Heart Won't Lie playing. Someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hmm," he muttered as he turned. Aria was standing behind him. His expression brightened, and he swept her up into the tightest hug, kissing her as he did. She locked her arms tightly around his neck, kissing him back. Only when he found himself breathless did he finally settle her back on the floor, though his arms stayed looped around her.

"I'm sorry," he told her softly. "I'm an asshole. I'm trying my best."

Aria brushed her fingers through his messy hair, staring into his eyes for a solid minute. He could still see where she'd had tears on her face just a few seconds before. Her mascara was smudged, just the slightest.

"I need you to get your shit together," she whispered to him, leaning into his chest. "We need you."

Ezra exhaled a deep breath, nodding as he ran his hands up and down her back. "I know." They stood quietly for a few seconds, and he wondered how he would explain this to Nicole, let alone what he should do next. Leaving felt like a shitty thing to do, but staying felt even worse.

"Wait, who's we?" He asked.

Aria glanced back up at him with a small smile. "Still want kids?"

His chest swelled as his throat tightened, and all at once he was feeling twenty different emotions, the first of which being overwhelming joy.

"Of course," he said as he lifted her off her feet once more, hugging her tightly. Aria giggled, hugging him back.

"I couldn't tell you over the phone," she told him. "I couldn't tell you one more damn thing on the phone."

"I'm glad you didn't," he said, giggling near hysterics. After a minute when they'd calmed enough, he once again settled her back down, though this time, his eyes were drawn towards her midsection. All he could do was smile. "This is amazing." 

Aria nodded, keeping a hand on his face. "I also wanted to tell you, I want to call off the wedding."

Ezra glanced back up at her. "Aria, I-"

"Just for now," she told him. "Besides, I've long since figured out that it's impossible to make any concrete decisions without having you there. Right now, I just want to be here with you, and then when we go home, I just want to think about what's to come in the next few months." 

Ezra nodded, listening to her logic. She was right.

"Okay," she asked.

He just smiled at her again. "Whatever you want, baby. I'm all in, all for you."


	11. A Lightyear (Between Me And You)

**A/N:** Hey, yall! Been a minute, hey? When I initially started this project way back when, I meant to stick to it, but if I remember correctly, the holiday rolled around and then life just got away from me, as I was finally able to get my mental health back on track, and thus got a job and a life that took me away from my computer. The writer in me that used to spend five hours a day just typing kinda took a long sabbatical. Then after all that, I met my babe, and he just completely changed my life even more. Good news though: he supports me pursuing my writing and getting back to it, and so here I am, back attempting to write at least a five hundred word fic a night….except because I work full-time hours, it's gonna be more like two or three times a week, unless I've got the time to crank one out on work days. Either way, I'll be around! Plus, today was my birthday, so consider this my gift to yall!

That all said, enjoy! (And tell me if this sucks because I have no clue where it's going.)

A Lightyear (Between Me And You)

It was easy for them to make their statements, to tell her to just move on. They didn't know about the nightmares, or about how she laid up at night staring at the ceiling, wondering if he was ever coming home. She knew she'd failed. She just wanted to make it right again.

"Aria?"

Aria glanced down from her ceiling towards her doorway. Spencer was standing in the gap, looking in on her. Sallow shadows from the hallway nightlight spilled around her frame dimly.

"Yeah," She responded, rasping.

"Are you okay," Spencer asked. She still hadn't moved from standing in the gap of the door, neither entering or leaving.

Aria shrugged, looking back up towards the ceiling.

Spencer sighed and stepped entirely into the room, closing the door behind herself. She did it so gently that Aria barely heard the door click in the silence of their apartment.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself," Spencer murmured as she knelt up onto Aria's bed.

Aria shook her head, blinking away stray tears as she inhaled wetly through her nose. She cleared her throat and coughed quietly, but didn't respond otherwise.

"You are human," Spencer stated to her. "You're imperfect. If he doesn't see that, then he doesn't deserve you." 

Aria glanced down at Spencer, narrowing her eyes. There was so much Spencer didn't know-so much **everyone** didn't know. Even so, they all still seemed to feel entitled to sharing their opinions, and the problem was that everyone wanted to take a side. She didn't want anyone to take sides. She just wanted them to listen and understand. If Ezra never came back to her, it would be entirely her own fault.

"Spencer, I stood in front of him and threatened to kill myself," Aria growled.

Spencer stared her down just as intensely. "I'm sorry, but he knew that when you came home that you had a lot to face. He decided to be a part of that. That doesn't mean he gets to check out when it gets hard."

Aria clenched her jaw, but after a long moment, her face crumpled and tears filled her eyes again. Everyone could keep making their comments, but she felt so damn stupid.

"I failed," Aria cried. "I was supposed to keep it together for him and deal with my shit and not get swallowed by it. I promised I would."

"Please revert back to my original statement," Spencer commented. "You are **not** perfect, and you don't **have to be.** It's okay to be a mess."

Aria didn't respond. She turned her head and stared at her wall on the opposite side of the bed, still berating herself. In her head, it was so easy to convince herself that Ezra would just come back and hold her and tell her everything was okay, but reality didn't work that way. Reality was a cold, cruel bitch that mostly just left you scrambling to keep all your plates spinning while it left a hurricane whirling around you.

"Have you heard from him," Spencer asked, attempting to change tactics.

Aria shook her head, though she kept staring at the wall.

Spencer inhaled a deep breath.

"Well, if there's one thing I know for sure about Ezra Fitz, it's that he's not the kind of guy to just end something by leaving you to wonder. So if he didn't actually tell you he doesn't want to be with you anymore, then maybe you just need to give it time," she stated. "Maybe it'll all be better for you guys in the long run."

Aria laughed haughtily, shaking her head. She hated that sentiment. 'Better in the long run' was a load of crap, and it didn't do anything to fill the hole punched through her chest.

"He's not gonna love me anymore," she muttered lowly. "Not after this."

"Then he doesn't deserve you, and he's not the right guy," Spencer told her.

Aria just shook her head again and completely rolled over, facing away from Spencer. Spencer wouldn't be unnerved though. Instead of leaving, she moved off the bed only to move up to the head of it and pull back the blankets.

"Move over," she insisted. Aria looked back over her shoulder at her best friend.

"What?"

"I said, move over," Spencer told her. "I'm not leaving you like this."

Aria huffed, but moved over nonetheless. Spencer slid into the bed behind her and snuggled up to her friend rubbing Aria's shoulder comfortingly. Aria honestly didn't want her there, but at the same time, she didn't really want to be alone, so she said nothing.

.,.

Time passed, though she wasn't sure how much. Her hand was still wrapped over her phone, but the screen light would wake Spencer for sure, and she didn't want to talk. Still, she needed to pee, and the voice inside her head driving her anxiety up to eleven was telling her to call Ezra and tell him how sorry and stupid she was.

She slipped out of the bed slowly and quietly, tiptoeing gently so she didn't wake Spencer. When she made it to the door, she turned the knob silently, flinching at the slight creak the door made as she eased it open. Still, Spencer didn't stir, and Aria could still hear her softly snoring.

She tiptoed across the hall, sliding into the bathroom. Even in the low lighting from the plug-in nightlight by the sink, she could see the redness around her eyes and the puffiness in her face from how much she had cried in the past few days. She'd already missed two days of work, and really couldn't afford to miss a third.

She made use of the bathroom and then washed her hands before leaning back against the wall, staring down at her phone. It was one thirty in the morning. Ezra probably wasn't even awake anymore.

She tapped through her contacts and let her thumb hover over his name for a long period. She wanted to call, but she knew he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She'd just be wasting her time and giving herself more reasons to cry….but she _needed_ to hear his voice.

She finally tapped his photo, and her call screen came up, signaling that a call was going out. She lifted it slowly to her ear, listened to the trill of the ring. One ring turned into two, and then led into his voicemail. Tears welled in her eyes and fell before she could wipe them away, simply dropping out of her face. When she'd stood before him threatening to hurt herself, and then following through on it, she'd thought for sure that nothing could hurt worse than that. But oh holy fuck, how little she actually knew, because this pain felt like it actually might kill her. She slid down the wall, holding her phone to her chest as she sobbed silently, mouthing Ezra's name repeatedly in the dark. All the while, thoughts ran rampant through her head, filling her with self-hatred and a guilt so deep that she felt like she was drowning on it.

She pulled her phone away from her chest and opened up her messenger, tapped on Ezra's face. He wasn't asleep-the little icon next to his picture showed he'd just been online seven minutes before.

She tapped on his face, bringing up their last conversation. Ezra had been working meeting with their publishers while she had been at home, nursing a cold. He'd told her he loved her and that he'd be home soon. She had sent back kissy face emojis and heart-eyes.

She tapped on the 'say something' box and began to type, shaking her head at herself even as she did.

 _I'm sorry. I'm SO sorry, Ezra. I'm so sorry. I was stupid, and I shouldn't have done it, and I'm sorry. I should've known I'd drive you away. I'm just so sorry I failed you. I should've been better. You deserve better. I just love you so much and I'm so stupid. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry._

She stared at her message for a long moment, bottom lip trembling as she let her thumb over the 'send' button. But what was it that they always said? You regret all the chances you don't take?

She swallowed past the hard knot in her throat and exhaled a long breath before hitting the send button. After a few seconds, she managed to get herself up from the floor, feeling the slightest bit better. She wasn't entirely done crying, but if she was drowning in her pain, she'd managed to scoop a few cupfuls of it out in that statement. She brushed her nose against the sleeve of her shirt and then grimaced at the streak it left there, shaking her head. She walked over to the hamper and pulled off her shirt, adjusting the cami she'd worn under it. As she moved to drop the shirt into the hamper, she spotted a familiar t-shirt. It was Ezra's-the one he usually wore to the gym. She pulled it out of the hamper and held it in her fisted hands for a few seconds, staring down at it. This was probably all she had left of him.

Her phone chimed on the sink, and she looked over her shoulder at it. It took her a few seconds to gather up the courage, but once she had, she reached over and picked it up, nervously pulling up her messages. And then just like that, there it was: Ezra's response.

 _I'm not done, and I'm not gone. And I don't believe that you're stupid. I just need time._

She stared at the message for a long few moments, and then exhaled a long breath.

It wasn't much to go on, but if she had been drowning before at least now she felt like she was managing to swim a little bit. He wasn't gone. She was going to be okay.

Aria let out another deep breath, letting her phone return to sleep mode. She glanced back down at Ezra's shirt in her hands and gulped before lifting it to her face and inhaling. A calm washed over her that felt like nothing she'd ever felt before. It was kind-of like when you were scared as a kid, and your parents would comfort you, except so much more intense, because Ezra was the only person that really made her feel safe. He was the only one she really completely trusted.

She inhaled another whiff of his scent off his shirt, and the calm washed over her again, bringing her anxiety down several more notches. For the first time in the past few days, she felt like she might actually be able to sleep soundly and decently.

She opened the bathroom door and walked back across the hall, sliding her door shut as she slipped back into her room. As she slipped back into bed, Spencer stirred, groaning softly.

"Everything okay," Spencer muttered, slurring her words sleepily.

"Yeah," Aria replied quietly. She pulled the blankets up to her waist, laying back down against her pillow. She wrapped Ezra's shirt around her chest, nuzzling her face into it once more. As his scent wafted into her nostrils a third time, she could feel the weariness from all her crying sinking into her bones.

"Everything's gonna be fine," Spencer murmured as she snuggled up to Aria once more. As Aria finally began to allow sleep overtake her exhausted body, she felt for the first time in a long time that Spencer might actually be right.


End file.
